. The serpent symbol, and the worship of the reciprocal principles of nature in America . what apochryj^hal, althoughit is not impossible that liteial serpent worship may have existed among someof the savage tribes of South America. •)• In the city of Mexico, says Mr. Mayer, I constantly saw serpents, carved inBtone, in the various collections of antiquities. The one represented in the cutexists in the court-yard of the University of Mexico, and is carved with exquisiteskill.—{Mayers Mexico, p. 32.) Tlie rattlesnake, fiays Mr. Bullock, was anobject of veneration and worship among the Mexicans,
. The serpent symbol, and the worship of the reciprocal principles of nature in America . what apochryj^hal, althoughit is not impossible that liteial serpent worship may have existed among someof the savage tribes of South America. •)• In the city of Mexico, says Mr. Mayer, I constantly saw serpents, carved inBtone, in the various collections of antiquities. The one represented in the cutexists in the court-yard of the University of Mexico, and is carved with exquisiteskill.—{Mayers Mexico, p. 32.) Tlie rattlesnake, fiays Mr. Bullock, was anobject of veneration and worship among the Mexicans, and its representations arevery commonly met with among the remains of their ancient idolatry. * * *The finest that is known to exist is to be seen in the deserted part of the cloisterof the Dominican convent, opposite to the j)alace of the Inquisition. It is coiledup in an irritated erect position, with the jaws extended, in the act of gorging anelegantly dressed female, who appears in the mouth of this enormous reptilecrushed and lacerated. SCULPTURED SERPENTS IN AMERICA. 217. Fig. 52. Serpent carved in Basalt, in the Court-vard op the Univer-sity ok Mexico. Yasqtiez Coronado, Governor of New Gallieia, (as the uorthern territories ofNew Spain were then called,) wrote to the Viceroy Mendoza in 1539, concerningthe unknown regions still beyond liim to the northward. Ilia account was chieflybased upon the fabulous relation of the friar Marco Niza, and is not entirely tobe relied upon. In this letter ho mentions that in the province of Tojnra therewere people who had great towers, and temples covered with straw, with smallround windows, filled with human skulls, and before the temple a great roundditch, the brim of which was compassed with a serpent made of various metals,which held its tail in its moutli, and before which men were sacrificed. 218 AMERICAN ARCH^OLOGICAL RESEARCHES. Mr. Mayer also found other serpents in the same collectionwith that figured above, in the cou
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